Stay Away from Aiptasia killing lasers!
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HotRocks
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Bummer sorry to hear that. I hope he is ok!
ZoWhat
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Aiptasia last dying act is spewing millions of spores out into the water column as they know they're dying. Lazering them only spews spores and within a few weeks you'll have 10 baby Aiptasia to every 1 you kill.
Best method IMO IME:
1) Completely Cover all the medium to large Aiptasia in some sort of paste, like AipX, JoesJuice or DIY Kalk. Pile it on so it minimizes spewing spores
2) Get a Copperband Butterfly.....they WONT eat medium to large Aiptasia bc they get stung. But they WILL eat baby ones WHOLE by plucking them completely off the LR in one BITE!!!. If you can get the population down go only baby ones, the CBB will rid the tank of them.
* CBB wont harm your LPS SPS corals unless you have clams. They will destroy a prized clam overnight
Hth
Best method IMO IME:
1) Completely Cover all the medium to large Aiptasia in some sort of paste, like AipX, JoesJuice or DIY Kalk. Pile it on so it minimizes spewing spores
2) Get a Copperband Butterfly.....they WONT eat medium to large Aiptasia bc they get stung. But they WILL eat baby ones WHOLE by plucking them completely off the LR in one BITE!!!. If you can get the population down go only baby ones, the CBB will rid the tank of them.
* CBB wont harm your LPS SPS corals unless you have clams. They will destroy a prized clam overnight
Hth
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Daniel@R2R
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That sucks! Sorry to read this
Well I killed all but 1 of my aiptasia using a laser well over 2 years ago and I have never seen another one since laser and then peppermint shrimps seen to the last of my aiptasia it boils down to knowing what your doing.
To the OP that's most unfortunate, I know when I did mine all my fish swam to the far end and hid behind the rock work that must have been a nosey tang that came to see what you were doing. I hope it's only a temporary blindness.
Yeah I use the paste and it works great if I can reach but I got the laser because there are some places I just couldn't but I had line of site. Peppermint is my next option but I'm worried about my banded shrimp killing it.
The poor Naso stays to the back part of the tank so his good eye can cover as much as possible.
The poor Naso stays to the back part of the tank so his good eye can cover as much as possible.
Sense of nature
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I had the EXACT same thing happen to both my Tuxedo damsels
except they swam in front of it both sides,it wasn't like they even got zapped longer than 1 sec
They both died in a week,
Absolutely broke my heart & I still feel like point of sale that it's my fault
Hoping ur tang didn't get it too bad & he can recover.
except they swam in front of it both sides,it wasn't like they even got zapped longer than 1 sec They both died in a week,
Absolutely broke my heart & I still feel like point of sale that it's my fault
Hoping ur tang didn't get it too bad & he can recover.
I have had great luck with the aiptasia eating filefish. I have had a few that start to mess with LPS but they all are the aiptasia first. They are also slow so when they start to mess with the corals I have moved them to the fuge and they take care of them in there.
If that happens when you're using a laser, you haven't figured out how to use it correctly. The first thing you do is get the focal distance at the same distance as the oral disk. The next is actually frying the polyp's oral disk, starting in the center. That collapses the exit point. Nothing gets out after that and then you can get to work on the tentacles (which normally collapse with the oral disc) and finally the body & foot. If it's a *really* large one, start right at the mouth and work in concentric rings radiating out from the center. Anything attempting to exit the mouth gets fried by going after the mouth first. You don't want to be messing around with figuring out the focal distance or using weak batteries and hitting the aiptasia. *That* will get you a whole new crop to kill later on. You want it focused right from the start with fully juiced batteries. Soon as the laser hits the oral disc, you want to be doing maximum damage as fast as you can. If you're aiming down through the water, make sure you turn off all pumps, wavemakers, and powerheads so the water isn't distorting the beam.
Practice on the little ones before taking on a *large* one. Hone your focusing and targeting skills. Once you're comfortable and can readily wipe out a small one in a second or two, *then* go after the big(ger) ones.
It's been my experience that far more often, fish will initially be attracted by the frying/popping sounds and then hustle away.
Ehunforfun
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You made them small enough with the laser for the shrimp to handle and maintain. The laser definitely spreads them around. I tried laser only, regret it completely.
I am very sorry for your fish but it definitely is not the fault of the laser. Its like saying that all cars should be banned because, through your own incompetence, you could hurt someone. You were not paying enough attention and inadvertently harmed your fish. I would be incredibly surprised if your laser did not come with warning labels.
Having said that we have all lost or injured fish. I hold my hands up to that. Let this just be a valuable lesson and perhaps next time use the laser after the lights have been off for a while so that the fish are lethargic and still waking up.
Having said that we have all lost or injured fish. I hold my hands up to that. Let this just be a valuable lesson and perhaps next time use the laser after the lights have been off for a while so that the fish are lethargic and still waking up.
scott the coral assassin
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My copper band does a great job on aptasia, so good in fact I actually for a treat get some out of my overflow and hand feed him as a treat. Majanos another story , if I see any I just super glue over them. Seems to work.
salty joe
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IMO, lasers are too dangerous to use for pest control. I'd assume anyone using one has glasses for that laser's wavelength but a reflected beam could blind the kid across the street. I look at the risk/benefit and it's not there.
Sorry to hear about your fish.
Sorry to hear about your fish.
That's not how these hand-held lasers work. They are *freaking bright* and the operator *must* wear the appropriately colored glasses. Anyone else in the same room should also be wearing appropriate glasses. Because these are not fixed focal length or uniform focal length, any reflection is going to widen over distance as it is no longer at the focal length. So if you're working at 1', your focal length is 1'. Any reflection is going to a) come off a closer surface (glass or water) - which is already *not* at the focal length and then continue to expand as it goes out the window. Much like watching an arc welder at a distance, if Little Johnny happens to be so unlucky as to be precisely looking at your window, directly in the direction of the reflected beam, he's going to have a dark spot in his vision that will go away in just a couple minutes.
That said, these lasers *are not* toys. I don't store mine with the batteries in it, nor are the batteries in the case with the laser. However, they *are* useful tools when used correctly. Case in point; do you put your finger between the cutting surfaces of a bone cutter? How about your fingernails against the running blade of a frag saw? Lasers are also tools that need to be used correctly.
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